Different Kind of Pulse
by guilea
Summary: "Just one night, Axel. I trust you won't disappoint me, for how big you talk," the appointment was set. Tonight wouldn't be about safe, familiar things. Maybe he could show Zexion a different way to feel... and he wouldn't even need a heart first. Hey, hey, no shame in liking it, Zexy! AkuZeku, Lime/Lemon, Oneshot, Crackship, Yaoi, Pre-358/2.


**A/N:**  
 **As much as I love AkuRoku, I've had a secret love for the crackship AkuZeku for awhile now. There isn't nearly enough written for AkuZeku (and my personal favorite Lea ship: Leanzo), so I wanted to put up this little limon that I did.**

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As Axel's lips met Zexion's again, the hand holding the smaller man's hip pulled him down slightly, the slight pressure sending a surge of heat through Axel's body. He knew he had to pace himself, to put Zexion's body first, but he indulged himself by letting his mind wander a bit, his other hand tugging a bit on the slate-blue locks.

A wandering mind slowly turned to a wandering hand. The fingers entwined in his hair, slipping free and running down Zexion's spine. Their lips split for a moment as Zexion reflexively arched away from the touch, the first small sound escaping from his throat, but his sealed lips quickly parted to allow passage for a tense breath. At the noise, he grew immediately embarrassed. Axel's smoldering gaze was met with something between mortification and anticipation, but leaning far toward the latter as he took a second breath, and a third. The flames within Axel's body were fanned by the sound, wanting to get more of them to escape the quiet scientist.

"Axel, I—" he started a sentence, but wasn't able to complete it before Axel's lips renewed their interest. His hands found their places on their own, one bracing against Axel's chest, the other burying itself in his hair. Through the kiss, he continued, muffled by lips against his and interrupted by his own breathing. "—Will require more specific instructions if we're to—" Another sound escaped him, this one falling from his lips as a strange sort of whine as one of Axel's hands slipped under his shirt. The sound was foreign to his ears, but the warmth of fingertips on his bare flesh spread across his skin like flame.

"I think the feedback I'm getting is just fine for right now…" his voice was a low purr-slash-growl. Axel wished he had enough hands to touch Zexion everywhere at once. His skin was soft under his fingertips, unmarred. He wanted to see more, to touch more. Slow down. Slow down. A light tug pulled Zexion downward again, perfectly timed with a thumb brushing over one of his nipples. Another sound.

The slight touch was like an electric shock that ran through his body. Zexion's chaotic heartbeat wasn't just from their closeness, or Axel's hands on him, but how his body seemed to be reacting independently from his mind. His spine arched slightly, but instead of away from the touch, he leaned into it. "Is it?" Closing the gap between their lips once more, Zexion felt not only a rising heat, but a strange pressure. "Your feedback would be— _Nn,_ Axel, talk to me."

Axel chuckled softly through his heavy breathing, so enthralled by Zexion's reactions. After a few more kisses, the hand on Zexion's hip slid up his side, getting more reactions out of the smaller man before eventually landing on his chin, pulling Zexion's head away to look at him, despite his torso leaning more and more into the hand still exploring his chest. They both breathed harshly for a few moments, as Axel studied Zexion's face with a hungry gaze and a smirk. "Alright, alright. I'm trying to ravish you and here we are, talking." His gripe was an amused purr. "You can touch me if you aren't too distracted, but at the moment you seem very… very distracted…" he punctuated the end with another touch that elicited another sound from Zexion. "Open your mouth a bit. I'm going to show you something else."

Zexion shook his head at Axel's continued taunting, which sent the rest of his hair falling into his face, but no words come forth. He leaned back from Axel, resting for a moment to brush the hair out of his face. First to the side, at which it disobediently fell in front of his nose again, then, in a two-handed gesture, he ran his fingers through his hair until it was all pushed back from his warm, warm face. One hand extended toward the hem of Axel's shirt, but hesitated before finding its way under. After the longest pause in conversation so far, he finally spoke. "Open my mouth?"

Axel watched with amusement as Zexion fought with his hair, taking in the red face and bright blue eyes that were widened with nervousness when the curtain was pushed away. "You wanted directions, no?" He pulled Zexion forward with the hand on his chin, using his thumb to part his lips slightly before pressing his own to Zexion's, his other hand moving under his shirt to settle on his waist and draw him in further to the kiss, the tip of his tongue lightly running over Zexion's bottom lip to gauge his reaction.

At Axel running a thumb over his lip, then pressing in to part them, all Zexion could do was breathe a quiet _"uh huh"_. His eyes settled closed again as he fell into the familiar rhythm of the kiss, but tonight wasn't about safe, familiar things. It was about being bold. He let the shock of wet warmth against his mouth pass through him. As Axel's tongue finished its path over his lip, Zexion returned with an exploratory pass along the inner rim of Axel's own. Thoughts welled up somewhere deep in his mind, but they didn't form into words, only the inarticulate demands his body gave him with every touch. "It's interesting," he breathed as his hand tunneled its way under Axel's shirt, cool fingertips brushing against his side.

Axel involuntarily took in a sharp breath at Zexion's hand, seemingly surprised for a moment before that surprise added to his building pyre of passion. The hand on Zexion's face entangled itself in his hair, pulling him to his parted lips again and continuing their give-and-take with their tongues. Slow down. _Slow down._ His mind was reeling, trying to focus on Zexion, to keep himself steady and gentle. It felt… different? For once, his memory failed him. He was too focused on the man on top of him to even try to pull up helpful memories. He was vaguely aware of the pounding rush of blood through his system, and overly aware of the pressure building where Zexion sat. Axel very briefly indulged the thought of the end goal, but even his imagination paled in comparison to the expressions Zexion's face was letting slip in his flusteredness. He pulled his lips away with another nearly-silent gasp, biting his lip to cover up a groan.

Startled by the sudden disconnection, when Axel pulled away, Zexion did as well. His hand retreated from Axel's shirt, and his expression was a… strange combination— a breathless, exhilarated smile with wary eyes. "Is something wrong?"

Axel shook his head hurriedly. "No— No? No." he gasped out, verbally reassuring himself before meeting Zexion's gaze. He smirked. "You managed to catch me off-guard is all," he panted, the hand on Zexion's waist tugging him down a bit without him realizing, trying to relieve some of the pressure so he could focus on how badly he wanted more of Zexion at any cost. He met nervous blue with his flaming green. "Are you okay?"

"That I managed to catch you off guard is enough to confirm that I'm alright," he responded coolly, trying to tame his expression into a lofty smirk. He was breathing far too quickly to be convincing. "As we were, then." He replaced his hand below Axel's shirt, this time resting his hand along the curve of muscle along the center of his abdomen, near his navel. Play the game. Push forward. His fingers crept upward along Axel's torso.

He had intended to say something to that, but Zexion's hand distracted him. There was another sharp breath as Axel closed his eyes for a moment, reopening them to focus on capturing Zexion's lips again. The hand in Zexion's hair tugged his head down to meet him, Axel trying to mask an almost predatory growl of desire as he drew him in. His breathing was surprisingly harsh. Why was Zexion's touch so distracting? It was light, inexperienced, but Axel's torso writhed in response nonetheless. His own hands decided to fight back, and with a smirk against his lips, the hand on Zexion's waist moved to just above his knee and slowly slipped up the inside of his thigh.

For a moment, all Zexion heard was Axel's sharp breath. The small gasp reverberated through him, and the movement of the muscles beneath his hand was strangely intriguing. That was not the correct word, he was sure, but it drove his hand on to spread flat across his chest as it wandered off to the side. "You seem rather distracted yourself," he observed, breaking the kiss.

Zexion paused for a moment when his fingertip crossed a rougher patch of skin— a scar, perhaps— before a touch on his leg captured his attention. He felt his muscles tighten as Axel's hand wandered up from his knee. A sudden pressure in his chest. A new rush, and so, so warm he thought he would suffocate. "Axel?"

Axel's eyes observed greedily as every muscle in Zexion's body reacted to his touch. At his name, his gaze travelled up to Zexion's face, a playful smirk gracing his lips. "What's the matter, Zex? Have you never touched around here on your own?" as he spoke, his hand slowed but did not stop until his fingertips were dangerously close to Zexion's groin, but not quite touching the area. He dragged his nails lightly over the most sensitive portion of Zexion's upper thigh to try and elicit a moan from the smaller man.

At the question, Zexion's head fell forward. "No, I _hha—_ " The rest of the word was, sadly, lost. The last syllable stretched on as Axel's fingertips sent another shock through him, almost painful in how intensely he felt the touch through the fabric of his pants. "It's different," he clarified, his voice a tight whine.

Green eyes glittered as Axel's heart pounded. He kept flip-flopping between possessive desire and awe. Every fiber of his non-being would want to grab Zexion and claim him, put an end to all this buildup. Then Zexion would react, and Axel would be fixated, completely enamored with whatever sound or movement he had elicited from the scientist. Being so… wrapped up? in someone like this… It was so different…

Focusing again from his momentary lapse into fixation, Axel looked up at Zexion's face, biting his lip for a second as he took in the expression. Eyes closed tight, harsh breaths, deeply red face. The pressure in the smaller man's body was building, whether Zexion knew what it meant or not. He smirked, running his nails over the same spot again. "Then I assume that the same applies a little higher?" he purred, not making any moves toward the area, but continuing his distracting clawing on Zexion's thigh.

Everything within him stopped for a moment. A little higher. Right. He opened an eye, unfocused. "One way to— test that." Despite his halting progress and breathless delivery, his words were a challenge. A request? No, by the panting smirk he wore, it was a challenge.

At the invitation— no, that had been far more like a demand—, Axel's breath caught in his throat as it clenched shut, his face lighting up with flames. He tried to mentally chide himself for getting so flustered doing something he'd done plenty of times before, but even his inner voice was unable to focus.

Decisively, he slid his hand up Zexion's thigh once more, as he has been doing to reset each time he had clawed. However, about halfway up he slowed, pressing his fingertips down a bit in contrast to his lightly sliding palm, and when he reached the top of Zexion's thigh his hand continued without hesitation, putting light pressure on the area as he covered it with his hand. Eyes watched Zexion's reactions hungrily, hazed over both with embarrassment and desire.

It was the change in pressure that told him first, then the slowed ascent. He felt another change in pulse— Very interesting, that his body reacted so readily to even the idea of a stimulus— Then Axel's hand found where the both of them wanted it to be. The tightness in his pants before was becoming uncomfortable, but this? No, this was a little different. His analysis of the sensation was eloquently summarized, even beginning with a low groan from his throat: "It may require further testing. For data quality. "

How red his face must be, was one of the thoughts he could put together. How red was his face, eyes half open, with his hair held back by one shaking hand. It couldn't all be adrenaline, but his body was throwing off almost as much heat as Axel's. Maybe his shirt should…? No, his face was already warm enough that he couldn't suggest it.

The second thought was how long he would be able to sit here without things getting out of hand. As it was, Vexen had already warned— No, don't think of him. Anything but him.

Axel's desire skyrocketed at the response, his own need becoming harder to bear. But he took a moment, a few labored breaths, watching Zexion carefully. The hard shape beneath his hand twitched slightly, confined in its fabric prison, begging for release. After the moment passed, he let his hand move again, his fingers pressing to wrap partially around the form, giving it the touch it desperately needed as he focused on relieving some of the pressure for his small lover.

He looked up at Zexion again, letting out a half-breath, half-growl, his other hand slipping down to rest on his waist. "Are you okay?"

At the touch, the light pressure around, Zexion paused his breathing. Lips still loosely parted, he glanced down to Axel's hand wrapped around him, and his breath begins again with a harsh exhale. "I'm not going to die," he retorted too quickly, out of place because Axel mercifully had no connection to that event. But despite the sudden clarity in his voice, his eyes are swimming. He leaned forward toward Axel, taking his hand from his hair to hold himself as he half-lean half-crawled up his partner's form. "Okay is… somewhat of an understatement," he corrected, and pressed his lips into Axel's.

Zexion's mouth met his with a desperate feverishness that threw Axel completely off guard, but he returned the enthusiasm in kind, a groan of desire escaping his throat. The hand on Zexion's waist tightened its grip involuntarily, his other hand continuing to taunt the prisoner confined within Zexion's pants. Axel let himself get a little pushy, pressing back against Zexion's kiss with pressure of his own, deepening their encounter as he battled him with his own desire. His tongue snaked its way past Zexion's lips, teasingly meeting Zexion's own with a playful nudge, inviting the smaller man to play along.

Axel was pulling him in, and he was taking it. One hand wrapped around his waist, the other continuing to tease him, Zexion could only press himself into the kiss so much. Another sound escaped from his throat, this one a bit higher as the pressure built up against his zipper. That taunting so thoroughly occupied his mind, and it felt like they'd only just started. He wanted to get into it, to take away the barrier and let Axel do— whatever he was going to do to him. His body was very clear on what it wanted. It wanted more, and it wanted it _now._

But then Axel pushed back against his kiss, pressing his tongue into Zexion's mouth. Eyebrows furrowed, he felt the warm, wet intruder prodding against his own tongue. For a moment he explored pushing his tongue around Axel's, trying to find his partner's lips, but too soon he found himself pulling back slightly. As the contact broke, his lips stumbled through a statement. Words fought against breath, but the rumble of his voice won. "Extremely warm. I'm going to have to— One moment." He sat back to pull on his collar, allowing a bit of heat to escape from under his shirt.

Axel's heavy breathing from the broken kiss was interrupted by a devious smirk. The hand on Zexion's waist slid along the hem of his shirt, tugging on it lightly. "Why don't you take this off… It's just getting in the way," his voice was a raspy purr, his tone dripping in thinly-veiled lust. The hand on the hem of Zexion's shirt snaked underneath, fingertips lightly brushing over his abdomen and pulling the shirt upward a bit, green eyes looking to Zexion's face with an expecting smirk.

Even Zexion understood the smirk plastered across Axel's face, the raspy voice he made his request in. The collar came loose from his fingers as Axel toyed with the hem of his shirt, and with a smirk of his own, his hand followed. Slowly, delicately, he pulled his shirt up until it slid over his head. He deposited the garment off the edge of the bed, looking away before he could think to pick up and fold it, and looked down at Axel.

For a moment, he seemed almost shy. His arms held closely to his sides, his smooth, pale skin a stark contrast from the baggy black shirt he'd been wearing before— Pale, yes, but the redness in his face traced down his chest as he tried to slow his breaths. "Another problem solved."

Green eyes watched each inch of Zexion's torso be slowly revealed, studying the younger man with intensity. Axel found himself moderately surprised at how thin he was, his stomach flat, his ribcage only covered with a thin layer of substance. He'd held Zexion before, felt his thin frame, but he still found himself fascinated. He was undefined, a result of his work in the lab, Axel guessed.

Nevertheless, he was enthralled by the smooth, unmarred skin, his free hand unconsciously running over it as Axel let a smirk dance across his lips at how Zexion's blush took over so much of his body. No scars or bruises… just smooth, youthful skin. Axel found himself murmuring out a low purr of, "Glad we got that settled…" as his gaze and hand continued to be distracted by Zexion's torso.

A strange mixture of feelings set upon Zexion as Axel studied him. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, he wasn't physically impressive. But it didn't matter. Looking down at his partner, knees planted on either side of Axel's hips while his hand brushed idly across his skin, he understood it isn't just a body he was looking at. It's him.

His stomach tightened as Axel ran his hand across, and Zexion smirked through his small shudder. Looking Axel in the eye, the heat-haze across his blue eyes lifted, Zexion ran a few fingers along the hem of Axel's shirt. "What other matters do we have to attend to?"

Axel let out a small laugh, his eyes meeting Zexion's. "I suppose that would be the… _logical_ next step…" he murmured smoothly, giving the shape that his fingers still held one last bit of pressure before letting both his hands slide up the sides of Zexion's bare torso for a moment, teasingly caressing the skin and feeling the smaller man shudder and writhe a bit under his fingertips.

Another smirk found its way to his lips as he pulled his hands away, placing one on the bed beside him and pushing himself forward slightly, the other moving to the back of his shirt collar and pulling it up and over his head, tightening his abdomen to prop himself up and letting the shirt slide down the floor off of his arm. Intense green turned back to Zexion as he let himself lean back again, his back and head lightly resting against the headboard once more and his muscles relaxing.

By sheer intellectual experience, he should have been aware of how Axel's musculature works, but for some reason, his bare torso caught Zexion's eye. They seemed so opposite— He was aware of what his own body looks like, but Axel's body was striped with stories. A faded bruise. Raised scarring on his left side. And… a squiggle? A stylized flame, yes, that's what it was. Zexion let himself fall back slightly, his gaze pausing on it. "I hadn't realized you had a tattoo."

Axel follows Zexion's distracted gaze, a slight pink flush in his cheeks, covering it with a laugh and a raised eyebrow. "I have two on my face, what made you think I didn't have any more?" he teased. He re-studied the inked brand of his rebellion, moderately embarrassed as Zexion's eyes seemed to be fixated on it. The marking adorned his right hipbone, a series of lines in black and red buried under his skin. He shifted slightly, raising an eyebrow in amusement as Zexion's eyes followed the tattoo. "It's not going anywhere, you know."

"Yes, that is the point of a tattoo. Don't intentionally misunderstand me, this is different than the other two," Zexion replied evenly, tearing his eyes away from the flame for a moment to glance to Axel's face. He had a slight smile when he saw Axel's self conscious expression, and before long his fingers approached Axel's skin again. He felt the rush from before fading away as he brushed the edge of the tattoo. It was smoother than he thought it would be, like regular flesh.

He paused for a moment, hand and eyes still on Axel's hip. "Do you have any others?"

Axel shook his head, taking in a slightly shaky breath at Zexion's touch, but letting it out with an almost-irritated groan at the distraction, feeling his own heat starting to simmer off. "No, though I've definitely considered getting more. They're addictive, in a way," he answered smoothly, his tone informative but preoccupied. He let out a short laugh, trying to put on a teasing tone and bringing one of his hands to touch Zexion's chest again, "If you don't like it, I can put the shirt back on. I didn't think it would be so distracting for you."

His hand was still on the tattoo, but his eyes were back to Axel's face. With the hand on his chest again, and the teasing tone… Zexion's expression settled into a familiar smirk. "It was a surprise, not a distraction. You seem impatient, Axel."

Axel let out a playful growl, both of his hands falling to rest on Zexion's hips, thumbs brushing over the sensitive curve of flesh just above the bone, a mischievous light dancing in his eyes. "If I were as impatient as I'd like to be, you would be wearing far less than you are right now, Zex," he purred.

Like flipping a switch, Zexion's body remembered what it had been doing when Axel's hands find their place on his hips. A flash of heat washed over him as the words sunk in, his mind following a beat late at Axel's renewed touch. Not renewed, not exactly… But the thought seemed to be enough. What a strange sensation.

Zexion took in a breath through his mouth, and exhaled slowly as he drew his hand up from the tattoo. Cool fingers traced along the curves of muscle in Axel's torso, around the curve of his abdominal muscles, between the pectorals, until he reached his neck and his hand ran off the side to find a hold in his hair. "If that's the case, why are you holding us back?"

Involuntarily, his muscles reacted to Zexion's touch, tensing along with his breath as his fingertips mapped his torso, his eyes slipping closed for a moment and his grip on Zexion's hips tightening slightly. When his eyes reopened at the hand in his hair and the challenge in his lover's voice, the venomous color had renewed to a full haze of desire. One of his hands slipped up his torso, taking a moment to pause at one of Zexion's nipples and draw forth one of those sounds he hadn't heard in awhile before making its way up to lightly grab Zexion's chin, meeting his gaze with a lustful smirk.

"My apologies, love. I thought you were wanting to take this slow, considering all the interruptions…" he pulled Zexion down to meet his lips, the other hand sliding up to tease his bare chest once more, willfully ignoring where the scientist clearly wanted his hand to be instead.

Zexion had foolishly thought he would be cold once he took his shirt off. But now, with Axel's hands all over him, he saw it was not the case. It only allowed easier access to him, as he quickly realized. His head tilted back for a moment as his breath caught loudly in his throat, but before he could do anything about it, Axel had taken him by the chin and redirected his face so their eyes met.

And so quickly again, redirected down into a kiss. One gently shaking arm falls to support his upper body as the other pulls itself from Axel's hair to take a hold on his shoulder instead. Zexion was sitting there and letting Axel pull him around— He rather was enjoying being pulled around— No, he needed to escalate. But how to do so? His teeth gently found their way to Axel's lower lip again, opening his eyes again for a moment as he broke the kiss. "Impatient, but not so much that you're willing to halt progress for me? Is that so." Casting a smirk down at him, Zexion let his weight fall back to his knees, placing a steadying hand on Axel's hip and shifting his to the side to uproot his knee from where it had been planted.

"Ah-ah-ah! Where do you think you're going, love?" Axel's hand quickly moved to fall on Zexion's thigh, pushing his knee back down reflexively with a smirk.

A considerable amount of smugness found its way into Zexion's expression as Axel took hold of his thigh to bring his knee back into place. Hiding his surprise behind condescension, Zexion responded by taking hold of one of Axel's hands and pushing it back into the sheets. He leaned forward once more with an ever-increasingly unsteady arm to support himself. "That was a bluff."

"And calling you out is something I take so much pride in… I suppose I should give you what you're wanting, hm?"

Axel flexed his abdomen, curling himself forward to claim Zexion's lips again, his free hand finding Zexion's leg and sliding up, giving one teasing claw on his inner thigh before tauntingly tracing over Zexion's groin with his fingers, seeming to be planning on continuing the torture in a more desirable place before a small growl of irritation against his lips had him finally wrapping his hand around once more, giving a slight squeeze as a sign of good faith before allowing his hand to lightly stroke the shape through Zexion's pants, his lips moving from Zexion's mouth and tracing kisses down his neck and torso.

Zexion was clearly satisfied by Axel's slight redirection in attention— The cessation of the light teasing was met with a slight craning of his neck, opening his body further without leaving the kiss that held his face to attention. His fingers curled around the edge of Axel's trapped palm as Axel's free hand curled around him.

For a moment, the only sounds that reverberated off the white walls were the almost rhythmic separations and collisions of their lips, and the ever-increasing rush of air as Zexion fell further into unknown territory. The instant the kiss is broken, however, so too was the wordless communication between them.

"I've been reconsidering—" Axel's kiss having moved on to his neck was a surprise that startled him to silence for a moment as his eyes drifted closed. His mouth hung open, words caught in his throat as it tightened. A sort of cracked breathy sound escapes as he leaned in closer, feeling every one of the kisses as his skin burned at the touch. A harder burst of air pushed through, and he continued with a breathless tone. "Earlier I expressed doubt in you— for not discussing your actions as… as we go through with them."

The corners of Axel's lips curled into a smirk at Zexion's faltering speech as his mouth continued its exploration of Zexion's skin, the grip on his hand tightening, the enthralling sound he'd managed to elicit. Between kisses, he hummed in response to Zexion's prompt.

"Oh? And… Tell me, love…" His mouth found one of Zexion's nipples, and he paused in his response to give his full attention to it.

Zexion's chest shook as he put a stop to a particularly harsh exhalation. His open mouth closed, biting his lower lip to prevent any further chance of interrupting Axel's question. His eyes, bright and searching, looked to Axel with a certain desperation as the end of the statement was delayed— But somehow, he seemed in no hurry to hear it.

The hand Zexion was holding returned the grip as the smaller man writhed slightly, trying to stay silent through Axel's ministrations. A barely-audible groan broke from his own throat, muffled and low, before he pulled his mouth away and looked down, away from Zexion's face for a moment, taking a moment to slow his harsh breathing.

Axel swallowed a few times, trying to moisten his mouth, bone dry from his heaving breaths, before speaking again, a huskier tone than he'd had the last time he'd spoken, hazy green raising to bright blue. "…what is your new conclusion?"

Even after Axel's lips and tongue release him, a shock ran through Zexion's body, from the back of his head and down his spine. He could feel two distinct pounding sensations, one in his chest, and an echo further down. Before this he'd been under the impression that his pants were loose and comfortable, but the way Axel had been handling him was making that seem like a dull memory. His muscles clenched and relax slowly as he heard Axel's harsh breathing slow.

As for his own? Shallow, shuddering, and harsh against the back of his mouth still. He watched his partner's throat as he swallowed hard, then met his eyes to hear the question he'd waited so patiently for.

But his lips, clumsy as he was lightheaded in the moment, failed to form the words he's looking for. His throat was sore and dry, and even following Axel's lead in swallowing, he found no relief. Neither had Axel, it seemed, but his rough voice caught Zexion's ear.

"A recess for discussion seems redundant, and I…" Though he aimed to be speaking objectively, Zexion found himself unable to continue while facing him eye to eye. He leaned in closer, lowering his torso until his lips were at Axel's ear and his arm shook with the effort. In a raspy whisper, not fighting the smirk that crept into his expression, he finished his statement. "…would rather not pause for it."

Zexion's hot breath and rough murmur against his ear sent a surge of heat like a shockwave through Axel's body, pooling more pressure in his own groin, another muffled groan-slash-hard breath slipping from his lips as a second wave made him shudder a bit, the muscles in his torso flexing with the ripple of heat. He choked out a throaty "Good," in response to Zexion's updated opinion on delaying their actions any further with explanations.

Mind hazed and distracted with his small partner once again, it ends up taking a second for Axel to mentally check his body temperature, trying to remind himself that he always had to maintain a certain level of caution. Hurting Zexion was the last thing he wanted to do… he was much more interested in watching the scientist lose just a little more control of himself to Axel's every touch.

His mouth found Zexion's neck again while the hand wrapped around him continued to work. He smirked against Zexion's skin as the shape twitched slightly, Zexion's breath getting just a bit rougher, signaling that his partner was reaching his peak. He slowed his touches, hearing a slightly… Disappointed? Frustrated? whimper from Zexion. His hand removed itself from the shape and his lips from Zexion's neck, drawing back to meet his gaze, a light of mischief in his eyes as he searched Zexion's expression.

Zexion's body swayed slightly at the indirect touch. The pressure of Axel's hand drew his hips forward, pressing himself into the concave shape in Axel's palm and fingers. The discomfort of the pants fabric pressing him into place was a small price to pay. At first hesitant, but soon more bold, his throat made a sound that began as a word to become only a rough drag of air. His eyes drifted upward from Axel's wild mess of hair, up the endless white wall until his eyelids fluttered closed.

But as the near-overwhelming heat and pressure came to center, Axel's hand slowed. His expression rumpled slightly at the change, with the short noise through his half-open mouth the followed soon after… Axel had claimed to be the impatient one earlier, but as he removed his hands from Zexion's shaking form, it was clear he had misunderstood. A single eye opened to see Axel's face, and for a moment Zexion couldn't decide if he wanted to kiss him or slap him for that smirk.

A trace of irritation found its way into Zexion's expression. He managed to slip in a few words among the harsh gasps of air. "Didn't we agree… about… interruptions?" His throat was so dry from the heaving breaths that it hurt to speak. He swallowed once, twice.

Axel's smirk took on a new level of amusement at Zexion's frustration, his words laced in a teasing purr. "So angry, so impatient," he purred, his voice still husky from breathing, but not nearly as bad as Zexion's. His hand slowly moved back toward Zexion's groin, a small laugh falling from his lips as Zexion preemptively responded with an intake of breath, "Calm down, Zex…"

His thumb hooked under the waistband of Zexion's pants at the button, only just barely pulling the fabric away, his fingers slipping into a position to undo the fastener at a moment's notice. Green eyes traveled back up to Zexion's face from where they had been watching his own hand, a playful question dancing in his smirk.

"Don't you want to get these out of the way first?"

Axel's teasing tone brought a hard cast to Zexion's eyes, and a hundred condemnations were on the edge of spilling over when a rebellious breath prompted a laugh, but were all tossed aside as Axel looped his thumb around his waistband. His eyes widened very slightly as the edge of Axel's thumb brushed against his skin. So riled at the merest touch— Axel was right, he did need to calm down, but his mind was swimming.

He desperately wanted to get them out of the way. "That does seem to be the direction we're taking, yes." After so long of gripping onto Axel's hand, he finally released it to brush his hair back from his face once more. His eyes drifted down to where Axel's hand laid in wait on the button, then back to his face. "If you would care to do so, Axel."

Axel's now-freed second hand moved up to caress Zexion's face, a soft, gentle smile crossing his features, but his playful smirk soon returned, his hand slipping to rest on Zexion's shoulder, thumb lightly brushing his neck as the button of his pants effortlessly popped open. The zipper slowly followed, Axel watching Zexion's face carefully as he lowered it, hand brushing against the firm shape as he released it from the confines of the pants. He carefully pushed the two folds of now-loose fabric to the side and let his gaze flick to the smooth black fabric that still covered Zexion.

His boxers were a much more forgiving prison, he was sure, because despite their presence, the shape was barely confined at all, simply draped over like a sheet of courtesy. Axel's eyes flicked back to Zexion as he lightly ran a hand over the outside of the boxers, feeling the silky fabric beneath his palm, cool to the touch with the unmistakable heat of Zexion's arousal slipping through. His tone was serious as he watched Zexion's expressions. "Is this okay?"

Zexion gave a slow, controlled exhale as Axel unzipped his pants, the soft hiss of air interrupted only by his low tremble. The change was immediate as Axel pushed the flaps of fabric aside, and slightly embarrassing as he attempted to define it anew without the leading description of _"crushed, but also"_. The release was freeing, yes, by definition, and warm as he had been through the entirety of this exercise, but it was h̶a̶r̶d̶ _difficult_ to describe.

His eyes closed again as Axel ran a hand across his boxers, acutely aware of the gaps between his fingers and the gentle curve of his palm. It took a moment for Zexion to confirm, first with a nod, then with an observation. "This is better."

Axel felt another shudder run through his own body, his tongue licking his lips uselessly before he leaned forward to give Zexion a soft kiss, setting a lazy, almost tauntingly slow pace. One hand settled on Zexion's hip, holding him firmly, while the other wrapped around Zexion's arousal and gave a light squeeze.

Zexion involuntarily pressed into the touch, and the hand on Zexion's hip tugged him back down, Axel recapturing his lips from where Zexion had broken away to gasp, significantly more feverishness in their kiss this second time around. The fabric did nothing but make his movements a bit smoother, the thin material allowing Axel to feel every detail beneath his fingers as he slid his hand up and down at a pace that Zexion seemed to be more than pleased with, judging by the increase in pitch of the sounds he occasionally let slip into Axel's mouth. Zexion broke away from his lips, the lack of oxygen finally proving too much for him the closer he got to the edge.

Every time he pulled away from Axel's lips, trying to pull in a breath before his body pushed it back out, Axel came back for more. But he wasn't putting up much of a fight— It took Zexion more effort than it should to not hang desperately off of him. His fingers buried themselves into the sheets, pulling a handful of fabric into his grasp.

With every breath, his panting is a little higher and tighter, with every now and then a small vocalization hummed into Axel's lips. Almost like a whine, and louder when he pulled his lips away once more. His body is held in place by Axel's hand on his hip, muscles pushing against the gentle but firm hold as Axel slid his other hand along. Up and down, smoothly, his breaths matching the rhythm.

"Axel…" The name is stretched out, spanning across two beats before his breath runs out.

Another jolt of heat shot directly to his groin as Axel's name fell from Zexion's lips. The moan was the loudest sound that had escaped the smaller man thus far, and by far the most provocative. Axel involuntarily swore under his breath with a groan, completely absorbed by Zexion.

Then a sound behind him caught his attention, a dull thud from the other side of the wall, like something had dropped. A moment passes where Axel mentally maps out the bedrooms, trying to figure out where the noise had come from, and who might be able to hear the noises Zexion was making. Next door was… Demyx… probably just rearranging his souvenirs, as he called them, the piles of random junk he found on recon missions. On the other side was… who was on the other side…? Wait—Vexen. Well, no problem there. Ugh, don't think about him. Anything but him.

The moment of thought was interrupted— or saved, rather— by another, slightly more desperate moan from Zexion. Axel refocused, feeling Zexion's arousal twitch in his hand and smirking, letting the hand holding Zexion's hip down slide to claw lightly on his inner thigh, freeing his partner to press into his touch as he teetered on the edge. He increased the pace of his hand, letting his thumb run over the crown, something the smaller man clearly hadn't expected, as Zexion's trembling arms nearly gave out immediately, his hands desperately clawing the sheets.

As Zexion's mind fell further away, he held the best he could to hold on to individual thoughts and observations. The pressure, the strange tingle that spread from his pelvis downward, how his body coped with the abundance of sensation by pushing out wordless noises… It was the best he could do to hold on when the rest of him wanted to embrace it. At the burning touch on his thigh, fingers dragged roughly across his skin, he forced an eye open once more to see Axel's smirk.

The quality of the touch changed, he half-realized as his spine's sudden contraction sent him lurching forward into Axel's chest. Fingers aching from grasping so tightly into the sheets, Zexion gave another attempt to speak, but he only succeeded in a pathetic, husky, open-mouthed hum.

But his body relaxed slightly, and a strange stillness came over his mind. Serenity in the turbulence. Muscles shaking still, he raised his head to look to Axel. Eyes lost, lips parted slightly. He felt for a moment like he would fade after all, but that was quickly dispelled as he focused on a new sensation in his groin. A slow movement upward as the muscles tensed and urged, and then… a release.

A hot, slow breath passed from his lips.

Axel met Zexion's gaze with a small reassuring smile, his own breathing harsh as he watched Zexion writhe and tremble. He felt the first pulse in his hand before the rest of Zexion's body reacted to it, and adjusted his hand accordingly, bringing his free hand up to curl around Zexion's waist as his body was wracked with the aftershocks of each pulse of release.

He held him until Zexion let out a slow breath and the shape in his hand began to lose its firmness, going limp as Axel unwrapped his fingers. He leaned forward, leaving a gentle kiss on Zexion's forehead, licking his lips, tasting the saltiness of the sweat and smirking, letting his breathing ease a bit as he rested back against the headboard.

In the hazy awareness that the world still existed around him, the only feeling he was sure of was Axel removing his hand from him. All else was lost in an empty, but intensely satisfying swirl of sight and feel. The sound of their breathing seemed dulled, but the slight warmth and pressure on his forehead—Axel kissed him. He let his body relax into Axel's, his arms finding a place half-beneath him.

It was as if everything had drained out of his body, and his mind was only just reawakening. He rested his head down into Axel's neck, eyes closed as his mind tried to piece everything together. The intensity. The loss of control. The lingering lightness, as if his body was trying to prove to him that this was right. And it did feel right, even if this body wasn't human.

Zexion's breath caught in his throat again. This was an entirely different, yet still familiar catching. A hot tear escaped the corner of his eye, falling from the bridge of his nose to Axel's neck.

Axel let his arms wrap gently around Zexion's frame as he fell forward onto him, continuing to consciously slow his breathing and letting his eyes fall closed. They opened again at the sound of Zexion's breath hitching, and his brow furrowed when he felt a warm wetness on his skin.

"Zex?" he tilted his head slightly, one of his hands moving up to rest between Zexion's shoulder blades, his voice a reassuring whisper. "Hey… Zex, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Zexion answered, voice cracking with dryness and the tightness in his throat. The familiar voice had pierced through the haze, and though his body was heavy, his voice was remarkably more present than his breathy non-words from the minute prior, if still slightly winded. "I hadn't realized this was anything more than a physical act. In humans, yes, but I had no idea that I would be so affected." A second tear fell, this one streaking down his own cheek. "I will be fine. I need a moment to adjust— The effect is fading already, it shouldn't be long."

Zexion moved his hands from their awkward positioning where he'd collapsed, one laying along the edge of Axel's torso and the other finding a place stretched upward, resting on his chest with fingers finding their way into the mess of red hair. Zexion took comfort in the warmth of Axel's skin, and was still.

Axel felt the scientist's tired body relax against him. He was content for a moment, but soon realized that this contentedness came with a price. He felt his smirk returning, running his fingers through Zexion's sweat-slicked hair.

"Zex, you're going to want to clean up. You aren't going to want to fall asleep like this, trust me," his tone was playful, an undertone of amusement that was matched by the light in his eyes.

Clean up… He didn't feel like a shower was altogether necessary at the moment. Certainly before getting to work tomorrow, but his sweat was an extremely low priority. Regardless, he urged himself on. Zexion shifted so his knees were once more planted on the bed, and became immediately aware of an unpleasant stickiness in his boxers. He grimaced slightly. "I see."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **When the internet fails to give me AkuZeku, I give AkuZeku to the internet.**


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